The Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, stretches from the active volcano that marks its northern point to the black sand beaches on Java's southern coast. A straight line apparently can be drawn from the smoking crater of Mount Merapi, through the sultan's palace in downtown Yogyakarta (see last week's post), to Parangtritis, a.k.a. Paris, a tired beach town on the Indian Ocean.

Michelle Bruhn and I paid about $230 U.S. for two days and nights there—meals and transportation from Jogja included—in probably the most luxurious hotel I've ever occupied. For most of our stay we were the only people there.